Politics and Religion

Keeping the two great commandments together

08/21/2020

Matthew 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

It is often said that one should not talk about religion and politics in polite company. G. K. Chesterton, however, rejoined that religion and politics are the only two things worth talking about. Why? Well, because religion deals with our love of God and politics concerns our love of neighbor (all our neighbors, not just those next door). In other words, there exists an inner inseparability between religion and politics like there’s an inner link between the two-fold commandment of love of God and love of neighbor.

In the gospel today from Matthew 22, Jesus explicitly keeps these two commandments together, even though the Pharisees try to force him to choose the “greatest commandment.” In other words, does religion take precedence over politics or should politics take priority over religion? But Jesus answers a little like Chesterton, keep religion and politics, love of God and love of neighbor, together.

It might help to understand the Pharisees’ question if we look at it from the Pharisee’s point of view. Who were the Sadducees and Pharisees? Both were Jewish leaders who came into existence after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Exile in 537 B.C. And they both became extinct after the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. This era of Jewish history is called the “Second Temple Period.” The Sadducees were more politically-minded leaders, who cared about politics. The Pharisees were more rooted in religion. The Sadducees would have wanted Jesus to say the love of neighbor (politics) is most urgent, while the Pharisees wanted Jesus to answer that the love of God (religion), is the most critical commandment. But Jesus replies that both are essential. In other words, you cannot separate the love of God and the love of neighbor, do not separate religion and politics.

Why should any of this matter to 21st century Americans? Why indeed! Well, you and I live in a nation that was founded on the ideal of the separation of church and state. That principle is articulated in the First Amendment to the Constitution, which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof.” We all take those words for granted but at the time they were made law, they were very revolutionary.

In fact, I would suggest to you that the notion of separation of church and state is the real “American Revolution.” Why? Prior to the founding of this great nation religion and politics always walked hand-in-hand, strange bedfellows. This union was expressed in the Latin maxim “cuius regio, eius religio” meaning “whose realm, his religion.” Since we are all subjects in the realm of Mayor George McGill, we should all adopt his religion. If that sounds preposterous to you, then that’s a sign of how deeply ingrained separation of church and state is in our consciousness and in our conscience. That was not the common view of humanity prior to 1776. Furthermore, and more to the point of this homily, this separation of church and state, this severing of the link of religion and politics, seems to stand in stark contrast to what Jesus says in the gospel today.

I know what I am saying sounds pretty radical, and probably pretty un-American. But I feel deep doubt that it is possible to conceive of a country without a public form of worship. Or put differently, you cannot have a “culture” without a “cult" (worship). Can you hear the word “cult” hidden inside the world “culture”? In other words, even if we get rid of God from the public square, we will find something else to worship in public life. And I sometimes suspect we worship sports. I mean, can we really live without fall football?

You can always tell what’s important to a culture by what dominates the city skyline. The tallest and most expensive and impressive buildings used to be churches and cathedrals. But today those structures are predominantly sports complexes. If you wonder what you worship, just ask yourself: where do I spend my time, my money, and my love? In other words, there is no true separation of church and state, religion and politics; we just call them by different names here in our country.

At the height of the Civil War, President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address. He asked a profound question: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation (the United States), or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” That’s the question the Pharisees and Sadducees asked: can we truly separate religion and politics, church and state? That’s the question we should all ask. And frankly, I don’t know the answer, but I guess we’ll find out.

Praised be Jesus Christ!